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No.  231 

Jhe 
Book  of  Mormon 
Verified  j 


Established  by  Forty  Eminent 
Archaeologists  and  Authors 


BY  ELDER  A.  B,  PHILLIPS 


LAMONI.  IOWA 

Published  by  Herald  Publishing  House 

1912 


NO.  231.  r      '  3 

The  Book  of  Mormon  Verified. 

Established  by  Forty  Eminent  Archaeologists  and  Authors. 
BY  ELDER  A.   B.   PHIULIPS. 

The  Book  of  Mormon  was  published  in  1830,  copy- 
righted June  11,  1829,  and  the  plates  from  which  it 
was  translated  were  first  received  by  Joseph  Smith  in 
1827.  It  comes  to  us  as  the  record  of  the  ancient 
inhabitants  of  America,  of  whom  but  little  was  then 
written  and  much  less  known.  But  much  has  been 
discovered  concerning  these  mysterious  aborigines  in 
recent  years  which  almost  perfectly  accords  with  the 
Book  of  Mormon  record  in  its  prominent  features, 
thus  confirming  it  as  a  true  history  of  these  ancient 
people  of  whom  numerous  ideas  have  been  advanced 
concerning  their  origin.  On  this  point  A.  J.  Gonant 
says,  page  113:  "None  of  the  many  theories,  some 
of  which  seemed  quite  probable  at  first  view,  have 
withstood  the  test  of  later  investigations." — Foot- 
prints of  Vanished  Races,  published  1879. 

Notwithstanding  the  failure  of  all  these  theories,  we 
confidently  present  the  only  work  ever  claiming  to 
give  a  true  record  of  these  ancients,  believing  inves- 
tigation will  show  it  to  be  genuine. 

Short's  North  Americans  of  Antiquity,  published 
in  1880,  says,  on  pages  144  and  145:  "Closely  alHed 
to  the  theory  of  the  ten  lost  tribes,  is  the  claim  set 
forth  in  that  pretentious  fraud,  the  Book  of  Mormon. 
.  .  .  The  claim,  of  course,  merits  mention  only  on 
the  ground  of  its  romantic  character,  and  not  on  the 
supposition,  for  a  moment,  that  it  contains  a  grain  of 
truth.'' 

As  the  Book  of  Mormon  shows  that  the  first  peo- 
ple came  to  America  nearly  or  quite  five  hundred 
years  before  any  of  the  twelve  tribes  were  in  exist- 
ence, and  the  second  colony  consisted  of  less  than 
twenty   grown  people,  as  recorded,  of  the  tribe  of 


2  BOOK  OP  MORMON  VERIFIED. 

Joseph,  we  fail  to  see  that  it  is  **closely  allied  to 
the  theory  of  the  ten  lost  tribes.''  But  it  is  hardly 
proper  to  insert  romances  in  a  scientific  work 
which  is  evidently  what  Mr.  Short  feels  that  he  has 
done,  and  we  expect  to  show  that  the  Book  of 
Mormon  is  not  a  romance,  but  contains  **a  grain" 
of  truth  in  each  of  its  statements  that  we  shall 
examme,  which  will  relieve  Mr.  Short  of  the  result 
of  his  conclusions,  which,  however,  he  has  p-iven 
without  showing  wherein  the  Book  of  Mormon  con- 
tains anything  untrue. 

It  is  claimed  that  in  1827  the  Book  of  Mormon 
plates  were  delivered  by  an  angel  into  the  hands 
of  Joseph  Smith,  being  inscribed  in  characters 
called  reformed  Egyptian,  and  was  translated  by 
means  of  Urim  and  Thummim,  instruments  similar 
to  those  used  anciently  by  Jewish  priests.  (1 
Samuel  28:6;  Exodus  28: 30.)  It  is  a  record  of 
the  descendants  of  Jared  and  his  people  who  came 
from  the  Tower  of  Babel  about  2240  b.  c.  (Gene- 
sis 11:9),  and  also  of  a  people  who  were  of  the 
tribe  of  Joseph  who  came  from  Jerusalem  600  b. 
C.,  and  of  the  people  of  Zarahemla  who  came  to 
America  at  the  time  Zedekiah  was  carried  a  can- 
tive  to  Babylon.  ^ 

At  the  time  the  Book  of  Mormon  was  published 
what  little  was  written  of  the  antiquities  of  this 
continent  was  almost  entirely  in  foreign  publica- 
tions, and  so  expensive  that  few  even  knew  of  their 
existence;  in  fact  it  was  not  until  several  years 
afterward  that  the  more  important  discoveries  were 
made,  and  these  discoveries  have  corroborated  the 
Book  of  Mormon.  The  Book  of  Mormon  statement 
that  a  colony  came  from  the  Tower  of  Babel,  not 
only  agrees  with  Genesis  11:9,  but  also  with  the 
traditions  had  by  the  American  aborigines,  of 
which  St.  Giles  says  in  his  Faiths  of  the  World, 
page  298,  ''almost  all  tribes  preserved  the  story  of 


BOOK  OF  MORMON  VERIFIED.  3 

a  flood  and  a  great  destruction  and  repeopling  of 
the  earth;  there  were  many  legends,  too,  reminding 
us  of  the  scriptural  Babel  Tower.  ...  As  in  the 
Bible,  the  differences  of  dialect  are  accounted  for 
by  the  interposition  of  Deity  causing  confusion  of 
tongues." 

Charnay's  Ancient  Cities  of  the  New  World,  pub- 
lished in  1860  and  1884,  says  on  pages  15  and  16  of 
introduction:  "Wo  are  constantly  referred  to  the 
tradition  of  a  foreign  origin  and  the  native  flood 
myths.  ...  As  a  sequel  to  the  flood  myths  we  come 
upon  traditions  of  the  building  of  a  tower  of  refuge, 
and  this  has. led  some  writers  to  identify  the  Ameri- 
cans with  certain  of  the  builders  of  Babel,  who  were 
scattered  over  the  earth  after  the  confusion  of 
tongues."  How  does  the  Book  of  Mormon,  which 
was  published  before  these  works  containing  the 
aforementioned  traditions,  happen  to  agree  with  dis- 
coveries since  made  known  to  the  public,  unless  it  is 
a  true  record? 

On  pages  501  and  502  (small  edition)  of  the  Book 
of  Mormon,  we  find:  ''The  brother  of  Jared  did  cry 
unto  the  Lord,  and  the  Lord  had  compassion  upon 
their  friends,  and  their  families  also,  and  they  were 
not  confounded"  in  their  language.  This  is  con- 
firmed by  Bancroft  in  "Native  Races,"  volume  5, 
pages  20  and  21,  published  in  1875,  as  follows:  "It 
is  found  in  the  histories  of  the  Toltecs  .  .  .  that  man 
and  all  the  earth  were  destroyed  by  great  showers 
and  by  lightning^  from  heaven,  so  that  nothing 
remained,  and  the  most  lofty  mountains  were  covered 
up  and  submerged  to  the  depth  of  caxtolmoletltU,  or 
fifteen  cubits ;  and  here  they  add  other  fables  of  how 
men  came  to  multiply  again  from  the  few  who 
escaped  the  destruction  in  a  toptUpetlacali ;  which 
word  very  nearly  signifies  a  closed  chest;  and  how, 
after  multiplying,  the  men  built  a  zacuali  of  great 
height,  and  by  this  is  meant  a  very  high  tower,  in 


4  BOOK  OF  MORMON   VERIFIED. 

which  to  take  refuge  when  the  world  should  be  a 
second  time  destroyed.  After  this  their  tongue 
became  confused,  and,  not  understanding  efoh 
other,  they  went  to  different  parts  of  the  world  '' 
Fnest  s  American  Antiquities,  edition  of  1835 
fnFiX  ?T  °,V^^  confusion  of  tongues,  accoS^^ 
ing  to  their  traditions:     "Among  them  were  fifteen 

speak  the  same  language,  and  these  were  the  Taltecs 
Aculhucans  and  Azteca  nations,  who  embodied 
themselves  together,  which  was  very  natural,  and 
traveled,  they  knew  not  where,  but  at  length  arrived 
Amiica'''"''^  ^^*^^^"  °''  *^^  lake  country  in 
The  Book  of  Mormon  states  that  they  went  north- 
ward into  the  valley  of  Nimrod,  and  from  there  "into 
the  wilderness,  yea  into  that  quarter  where  there 
never  had  man  been;"  they  crossed  many  waters 

ri1!^i^P^^e*?03.*'^*  ^'''  ^'^  Which Videth 
Nineveh  and  Calah  were  about  four  hundred  miles 
nor  h  and  Calneh  and  Erech  east  and  southeast,  and 
Fhilistim  southwesterly  from  Babel,  (see  Gen.  10-  10 

Ih  i*'.^^u°  ^?^®  ™^P'>  Therefore  it  logicall^^ 
follows  that  they  traveled  west  or  northwest  if  thev 
went  where  "never  had  man  been,"  and  after  arriv- 
ing on  the  border  of  the  ocean  they  built  boats  "tight 

i'S.'^Ki"  ^-  ^'!^  ^^^  ^'•«"^^<i  *°  Central  Amerka, 
probably,  in  three  hundred  forhr-four  days,  and 
built  a  great  city  by  the  narrow  neck  of  land  " 
Also  in  this  region  they  built  "many  mighty  cities." 
(See  Book  of  Mormon,  pages  617  and  520.) 

..rpK  ^l^^^  ^^y^  °^  *^®i''  traditions,  on  page  298: 
They  have  come  over  the  sea,  come  from  the  far 
Jiast,  great  oceans  have  been  crossed,  lone  iour- 
neyings  have  been  performed."  Concerning  the 
remains  of  their  "many  mighty  cities,"  Bancroft  says 
m  Native  Races,  volume  4,  page  145,  that  Stephens 


BOOK  OF  MORMON  VERIFIED.  5 

and  Catherwood  "boldly  left  the  beaten  track  and 
brought  to  the  knowledge  of  the  world  about  forty- 
ruined  cities,  whose  very  existence  had  been  pre- 
viously unknown."  These  explorations  were  made 
from  1840  to  1849  and  hence  could  not  have  been  the 
source  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  record,  which  must  be 
what  it  claims  or  it  could  not  have  stated  this  fact 
more  than  ten  years  in  advance  of  science,  and 
before  their  "very  existence"  was  known. 

The  Jaredites  were  skilled  in  the  arts  and  sciences, 
their  remains  being  similar  in  some  respects  to  those 
of  Egypt,  from  which  they  probably  learned  to  some 
extent  before  their  emigration  to  America.  On  this 
subject,  Nadaillac's  Prehistoric  America,  first  pub- 
lished in  1882,  page  14,  says:  "To  erect  the  monu- 
ments of  Mexico  and  Peru,  the  yet  more  ancient  ones 
of  Central  America, — the  singular  resemblance  of 
which,  in  some  particulars,  to  the  temples  and 
palaces  of  Egypt,  strikes  the  archaeologist,  —  must 
have  required  skilled  labor,  a  numerous  population, 
and  an  established  priesthood."  Page  386  says: 
"Everything  goes  to  prove  that  the  ancient  races 
of  Central  America  possessed  an  advanced  culture, 
exact  ideas  on  certain  arts  and  sciences,  and  remark- 
able technical  knowledge."  Of  architecture  he  says 
on  page  411:  "In  certain  characteristics  this  archi- 
tecture recalls  that  of  the  Egyptians."  Why  should 
it  not,  as  they  came  from  that  region  near  Egypt? 
Confirming  this,  Jones'  History  of  Ancient  America, 
published  in  1843,  pages  168  and  169,  says:  "Egypt 
claims  at  once  the  general  character  of  the  architec- 
ture, but  not  sufficient  to  establish  that  it  is  strictly  of 
national  order,  as  practiced  on  the  border  of  the 
Nile;— but,  enough  is  shown  to  prove,  that  a  people 
built  those  cities  in  America  who  had  a  knoivledge  of 
Egyptian  architecture." 

Pidgeon's  Traditions  of  De-Coo-Dah  and  Anti- 
quarian   Researches,    published    in    1852,    says    on 


6  BOOK  OF  MORMON  VERIFIED. 

page  19:  '* Ancient  Egypt,  first  in  science  and 
famous  in  art,  has  also  left  her  impress  here." 
Marquis  De  Nadaillac  says  in  a  work  published  1892, 
Prehistoric  Peoples,  page  364,  '* Embalming  was  also 
practiced  in  America."  He  cites  several  instances 
and  gives  some  illustrations  of  Peruvian  mummies. 

The  Book  of  Mormon,  on  page  517,  states  that  they 
had  cattle,  oxen,  cows,  sheep,  swine,  goats,  horses, 
asses,  elephants,  cureloms,  and  cumoms.  For  years 
after  the  pubHcation  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  the 
prevailing  opinion  was  that  the  horse  was  unknown  to 
America  until  brought  here  by  the  Spaniards.  ^  It 
was  taught  in  at  least  two  of  our  school  geographies, 
and  William  Robertson,  Histographer  to  His  Majesty 
for  Scotland,  in  his  publication  of  1790,  The  His- 
tory of  America,  says  on  page  31:  *'The  camel,  the 
dromedary,  the  horse,  the  cow  were  as  much 
unknown  in  America  as  the  elephant  or  the  lion." 
(See  report  of  Committee  on  American  Archaeology, 
page  95.) 

Modern  investigation  has  shown  that  Robertson 
was  wrong  and  the  Book  of  Mormon  right,  as  the 
following  will  plainly  show. 

Larkin's  Ancient  Man  in  America,  published  in 
1880,  page  19,  says:  '*My  theory  that  the  prehis- 
toric races  used,  to  some  extent,  the  great  American 
elephant,  or  mastodon,  I  believe  is  new,  and  no 
doubt  will  be  considered  visionary  by  many  readers, 
and  more  especially  by  prominent  archaeologists. 
Finding  the  form  of  an  elephant  engraved  upon  a 
copper  relic  some  six  inches  long  and  four  wide,  in  a 
mound  on  the  Red  House  Creek,  in  the  year  1854, 
and  represented  in  harness  with  a  sort  of  breast 
collar  with  tugs  reaching  past  the  hips,  first  led  me  to 
adopt  the  theory."  (See  ''American  Archaeology," 
page  75.)  This  new  theory  of  1854  had,  however, 
been  stated  as  a  fact  by  the  Book  of  Mormon  more 
than  twenty-five  years  before  that  time,  saying  that 


BOOK  OP  MORMON  VERIFIED.  7 

these  animals  were  all  useful  to  man,  but  "more 
especially  the  elephants,  and  cureloms  and  cumoms." 
—Page  517. 

Dana's  Manual  of  Geology,  published  1880,  page 
671,  says:  ''Viewing  the  globe  as  a  whole,  in  this 
Quaternary  era,  we  observe, — 1.  The  gigantic  size  as 
well  as  large  numbers  of  the  species, — -the  elephants, 
lions,  bears,  and  hyenas  of  the  Orient  far  larger  than 
the  modern  kinds;  so  also  the  horse,  elephant, 
mastodon,  beavers,  and  lion  of  North  America." 

The  American  Antiquarian,  volume  22,  page  231, 
says:  *'In  the  post-Pleiocene  period,  for  example, 
the  horses  and  elephants  and  camels  of  North 
America  and  Europe  were  so  closely  allied  that  their 
common  ancestors  must  have  passed  from  one 
continent  to  the  other."  The  Book  of  Mormon 
shows  that  they  came  from  the  Eastern  Continent. 

Winchell's  Sketches  of  Creation,  published  in  1871, 
page  356,  says:  *'I  have  myself  observed  the  bones 
of  the  mastodon  and  elephant  imbedded  in  peat  at 
depths  so  shallow  that  I  could  readily  believe  the 
animals  to  have  occupied  the  country  during  its  pos- 
session by  the  Indians;  and  gave  publication  to  this 
conviction  in  1862."  He  further  says:  "Remains  of 
the  hog,  the  horse,  and  other  animals  of  recent  date, 
together  with  human  bones  .  .  .  are  there  lying 
mingled  with  the  bones  of  the  mastodon." — Ibid., 
p.  356. 

The  Jaredites  extended  northward  from  Central 
America  and  finally  became  so  numerous  that  the 
whole  face  of  the  land  northward  was  covered  with 
inhabitants.     (See  Book  of  Mormon,  p.  520.) 

This  record  is  confirmed  by  the  following  from 
Baldwin's  Ancient  America,  published  in  1871,  page 
70:  "That  appears  to  me  the  most  reasonable  sug- 
gestion which  assumes  that  the  Mound-builders  came 
originally  from  Mexico  and  Central  America.  It 
explains  many  facts  connected  with  their  remains." 


8  BOOK  OP  MORMON   VERIFIED. 

On  page  520  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  we  are  told 
that  they  worked  in  ''all  manner  of  ore,"  to  obtain 
which  ''they  did  cast  up  mighty  heaps  of  earth  to  get 
ore,  of  gold,  and  of  silver,  and  of  iron,  and  of  copper." 
This  statement  was  opposed  to  opinions  of  the  scien- 
tific world  at  that  time,  but  even  the  manner  of  obtain- 
ing ore  as  stated  in  the  Book  of  Mormon  has  since 
been  established  as  a  fact,  as  shown  by  Baldwin's 
Ancient  America,  page  43.  He  says:  "Remains  of 
their  mining  works  were  first  discovered  in  1848  by 
Mr.  S.  O.  Knapp,  agent  of  the  Minnesota  Mining 
Company,  and  in  1849  they  were  described  by  Dr. 
Charles  T.  Jackson  in  his  geological  report  to  the 
national  government.  Those  described  were  found  at 
the  Minnesota  mine,  in  Upper  Michigan,  near  Lake 
Superior.  Their  mining  was  chiefly  surface  work; 
that  is  to  say,  they  worked  the  surface  of  the  veins  in 
open  pits  and  trenches.  At  the  Minnesota  mine,  the 
greatest  depth  of  their  excavations  was  thirty  feet." 

These  accounts  agree  perfectly  that  by  "surface 
mining"  or  casting  up  "mighty  heaps  of  earth"  they 
obtamed  their  ore,  and  are  evidence  of  the  strongest 
kmd  that  the  Book  of  Mormon  is  what  it  claims  to  be 
a  record  written  by  the  aborigines  of  America.  This 
record  also  states  on  page  520  that  they  worked  in 
"all  manner  of  cloth,"  "and  they  did  have  silks  and 
fine  twmed  linen."  For  years  it  was  claimed  that 
these  ancients  did  not  have  cloth,  but  it  has  now  been 
proven  that  they  could  spin  and  weave,  as  is  shown 
by  Baldwin's  Ancient  America,  on  page  41:  "There 
appears  to  be  evidence  that  the  Mound -builders  had 
the  art  of  spinning  and  weaving,  for  cloth  has  been 
found  among  their  remains.  At  the  meeting  of  the 
International  Congress  of  Prehistoric  Archaeolo^v 
held  at  Norwich,  England,  in  1868,  one  of  the  speak- 
ers stated  this  fact  as  follows:  'Fragments  of 
charred  cloth  made  of  spun  fibres  have  been  found 
m  the  mounds.     A  specimen  of  such   cloth,  taken 


BOOK   OF  MORMON   VERIFIED.  9 

from  a  mound  in  Butler  County,  Ohio,  is  in  m^ek- 
more  Museum,  Salisbury/  "  ,,.,-, 

Also  in  Maclean's,  The  Mound  Builders,  published 
in  1879,  on  page  73,  we  read  they  ''used  cloth  regu- 
larly spun  with  a  uniform  thread,  and  woven  with  a 
warp  and  woof." 

We  also  read  in  the  Book  of  Mormon,  page  520, 
that  they  made  ''all  manner  of  tools"  and  "all  man- 
ner of  weapons  of  war,"  and  "all  manner  of  work  of 
exceeding  curious  workmanship,"  and  so  numerous 
had  they  become  previous  to  the  Nephite  civilization 
that  they  described  them  as  "a  people  who  were  as 
numerous  as  the  hosts  of  Israel."— Page  158. 

Pidgeon  confirms  this  in  Antiquarian  Researches, 
page  5,  as  follows:  "It  can  not  be  any  longer 
doubted  that  there  has  been  a  day  when  this  conti- 
nent swarmed  with  millions  of  inhabitants,  when  the 
arts  and  sciences  flourished." 

Also  Baldwin  in  Ancient  America,  page  34,  says : 
'*No  savage  tribe  found  here  by  Europeans  could 
have  undertaken  such  constructions  as  those  of  the 
Mound-builders.  .  .  .  This  condition  of  industry,  of 
which  the  worn  and  decayed  works  of  the  Mound- 
builders  are  unmistakable  monuments,  means  civih- 
zation."  Also  he  says:  "Relics  of  art  have  been 
dug  from  some  of  the  mounds,  consisting  of  a  con- 
siderable variety  of  ornaments  and  implements,  made 
of  copper,  silver,  obsidian,  porphyry,  and  greenstone, 
finely  wrought.  There  are  axes,  single  and  double; 
adzes,  chisels,  drills  or  gravers,  lance-heads,  knives, 
bracelets,  pendants,  beads,  and  the  like,  made  of 
copper.  There  are  articles  of  pottery,  elegantly 
designed  and  finished. "—Ibid.,  p.  40. 

Donnelly's  Atlantis,  published  in  1882,  page  142, 
says:  "The  American  nations  manufactured  woolen 
and  cotton  goods;  they  made  pottery  as  beautiful  as 
the  wares  of  Egypt;  they  manufactured  glass;  they 
.engraved  gems  and  precious  stones." 


10  BOOK  OF  MORMON   VERIFIED. 

They  w^re  also  highly  developed  in  the  art  of 
surgery  according  to  Professor  McGee,  who  at  the 
American  Association  of  Sciences  Convention,  at 
Detroit,  August,  1897,  said:  *'I  have  examined 
twenty-four  cases  of  trepanning  on  nineteen  skulls 
out  of  a  collection  of  one  thousand.  Trepanning,  the 
most  daring  and  difficult  modern  surgical  opera- 
tion, was  performed  more  plentifully  in  Peru  in 
ancient  days  than  in  mihtary  hospitals  of  the  pres- 
ent."— Zion^s  Ensign. 

'  Youth's  Companion,  May  16,  1901,  says  at  the 
Pan-American  Exposition  at  Buffalo  is  '*a  collection 
of  nearly  a  hundred  human  skulls  which  were  tre- 
phined by  the  natives  of  Peru  in  the  time  of  the 
Incas  .  .  .  the  condition  of  most  of  the  skulls  show- 
ing that  the  patient  recovered  and  survived  for  years." 

Nadaillac  says,  page  267:  *'We  meet  with  numer- 
ous examples  of  trepanation  in  America,  and  fresh 
discoveries  are  daily  made  by  the  energetic  men  of 
science  in  that  country."— Prehistoric  Peoples,  pub- 
Hshed  in  1892.  He  mentions  three  examples  from 
Peru  of  trepanning.  The  great  knowledge  exhibited 
in  these  and  numerous  other  remains  of  this  ancient 
people  are  most  convincing  monuments  of  their  intelH- 
gence  and  skill,  confirming,  also,  the  Book  of  Mor- 
mon as  a  true  record  of  them. 

Baldwin  says  of  Yucatan  ruins,  page  101:  ''Some 
of  their  works  can  not  be  excelled  by  the  best  of  our  • 
constructors  and  decorators."  Of  Mexican  and  Cen- 
tral American  ruins,  page  153:  ''Many  ages  must 
have  been  required  to  develop  such  admirable  skill  in 
masonry  and  ornamentation." 

This  great  people  was  finally  nearly  exterminated 
by  wars,  and  Coriantumr  is  mentioned  as  the  last 
of  the  Jaredites  found  by  the  people  of  Zarahemla, 
who  came  to  Central  America  about  588  b.  c.  (see 
Book  of  Mormon,  pages  137  and  532),  where  they 
were  found  by   the  Nephites,  who    left    Jerusalem 


BOOK  OF  MORMON  VERIFIED.  11 

©00  B.  C-  and  landed  presumably  in  ChM;  from 
whence  they  moved  northward  and  found  the  Zara- 
hemlaites  about  200  B.  C,  who  had  become  quite 
numerous,  but  had  degenerated  to  a  great  extent 
in  their  civilization,  and  finally  were  numbered 
among  the  Nephites,  by  whom  many  of  the  Jaredite 
cities  were  rebuilt.  Of  the  antiquity  of  the  Mound- 
builders,  Baldwin  says  of  their  skeletons:  "The 
earth  around  them  has  invariably  been  found  *  won- 
derfully compact  and  dry.'  And  yet,  when  exhumed, 
they  are  in  such  a  decomposed  and  crumbling  con- 
dition that  to  restore  them  is  impossible.  Sound 
and  well  preserved  skeletons,  known  to  be  nearly 
two  thousand  years  old,  have  been  taken  from 
burial-places  in  England  and  other  European  coun- 
tries less  favorable  for  preserving  them."  '*This," 
he  says,  * 'allows  us  to  assume  that  these  extremely 
decayed  skeletons  of  the  Mound -builders  are  much 
more  than  two  thousand  years  old." — Ancient 
America,  p.  49. 

On  page  73  he  says:  **What  has  been  said  of 
the  antiquity  of  the  Mound -builders  shows  that  a 
very  long  period,  far  more  than  two  thousand  years, 
it  may  be,  must  have  elapsed  since  they  left  the 
Valley  of  the  Ohio." 

This  is  just  what  the  Book  of  Mormon  showed  to 
be  a  fact,  forty  years  before  Baldwin's  work.  It  also 
states  that  they  built  houses  of  wood  in  the  land 
northward,  and  Baldwin  in  explanation  of  the  bare 
mounds  found  in  such  abundance  says  that  they 
doubtless  were  built  "of  wood  or  some  other  perisha- 
ble material;  therefore  not  a  trace  of  them  remains." 
But  of  the  southern  ruins  he  says:  "Many  of  the 
great  buildings  erected  on  such  pyramidal  founda- 
tions, at  Palenque,  Uxmal,  and  elsewhere  in  that 
region,  have  not  disappeared,  because  they  were 
built  of  hewn  stone  laid  in  mortar." — Ancient 
America,  p.  18.     Also  he  says:     "Everywhere  in  the 


12  BOOK  OF  MORMON  VERIFIED. 

older  ruins,  nothing  remains  but  the  artificial  mounds 
and  foundations  of  earth,  the  stone,  the  cement, 
the  stucco  hard  as  marble,  and  other  imperishable 
materials  used  by  the  builders."  But  had  they  used 
only  perishable  material  as  in  the  north,  he  says: 
''The  places  where  they  stood  with  no  relics  save  the 
mounds  and  pyramidal  platforms,  would  resemble 
the  works  of  our  Mound-builders."— Ibid.,  page  157. 
We  have  stated  that  the  later  civilization  (the' 
Nephites),  rebuilt  some  Jaredite  cities,  the  ruins  of 
which  were  abundant.  That  there  was  a  people  dis- 
tinct from  the  Jaredites,  who  rebuilt  their  cities,  is 
shown  by  recent  archsBological  works..  Baldwin 
says:  "The  monuments  suggest  successive  and 
yarymg  periods  in  the  civilized  condition  of  the  old 
inhabitants,  some  of  the  oldest  and  most  mysterious 
monuments  seeming  to  indicate  the  highest  develop- 
ment." Also:  ''The  evidence  of  repeated  recon- 
structions in  some  of  the  cities  before  they  were 
deserted  has  been  pointed  out  by  explorers." An- 
cient America,  pp.  76  and  156. 

Short  says  of  the  later  civilization:  "They  were 
preceded  by  a  race  possessed  of  no  inferior  civiliza- 
tion, who  were  not  their  ancestors,  but  a  distinct 
people."— North  Americans  of  Antiquity,  page  27. 

Baldwin  says:  "These  are  not  the  oldest  cities 
whose  remains  are  still  visible,  but  they  may  have 
been  built,  in  part,  upon  the  foundations  of  cities  much 
more  ancient."  Also :  "It  can  be  seen  that  some  of 
the  ruined  cities  which  can  now  be  traced  were 
several  times  renewed  by  reconstructions." — Ancient 
America,  pp.  156  and  152. 

What  science  here  proclaimed,  was  published  in 
the  Book  of  Mormon  forty  or  fifty  years  previous,  as 
follows :  "And  it  came  to  pass  that  there  were  many 
cities  built  anew  and  there  were  many  old  cities 
repaired."— Page  443.  We  read  that  they  also  used 
cement  in  their  constructions  (see  Book  of  Mormon, 


BOOK  OF  MORMON  VERIFIED.  13 

p.  324),  which  is  also  attested  by  Baldwin  on  page 
99.  Of  Palenque  we  read:  "The  floors  are  of 
cement  as  hard  as  the  best  seen  in  the  remains  of 
Roman  baths  and  cisterns."  Remains  of  their  works 
in  cement  are  extended  from  South  to  North  America 
in  abundance  and  volumes  could  be  written  showing 
stupendous  works  to  have  been  constructed  by  these 
ancients. 

But  we  now  consider  the  Nephites ;  a  colony  com- 
posed of  at  least  eighteen  people  (and  probably  some 
children  additional),  chief  of  whom  were  Lehi  and  his 
four  sons,  Laman,  Lemuel,  Sam,  and  Nephi.  Nephi 
was  the  junior,  and  from  whom  the  civilization  was 
named,  he  becoming  the  leader,  and  at  his  death  his 
successor  being  called  second  Nephi;  each  successor 
for  a  long  time  taking  his  name.  This  record  is 
corroborated  by  archaeologists  as  shown  by  Rivero 
and  Tschudi  in"* 'Peruvian  Antiquities,"  pubHshed  in 
1853  on  page  52.  He.  says:  "Its  first  inhabitants 
flowed  in  abundantly  toward  the  valley  of  Cuzco, 
conducted  by  four  brothers,"  .  .  .  "The  youngest  of 
the  brothers,  who,  according  to  tradition,  was  at  the 
same  time  the  most  skillful  and  hardy." 

Baldwin  says  this  civilization  was  originated  "by 
a  people  led  by  four  brothers,  who  settled  in  the 
valley  of  Cuzco,  and  developed  civilization  there  in  a 
very  human  way.  The  youngest  of  these  brothers 
assumed  supreme  authority,  and  became  the  first  of  a 
long  line  of  sovereigns." — Ancient  America,  p.  264. 
As  the  Book  of  Mormon  stated  this  more  than  twenty 
years  before  it  was  disclosed  to  us  by  archaeologists, 
there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  book  is  true. 

Shortly  after  the  Nephites  "journeyed  in  the  wil- 
derness" from  the  coast,  there  was  a  division  among 
them,  one  party  being  called  Lamanites  and  the  other 
Nephites,  who  journeyed  for  "many  days"  and  finally 
settled  down,  tilled  the  soil,  raised  flocks,  built  build- 
ings, and  worked  in  iron,  copper,  brass,  steel,  gold, 


14  BOOK  OP  MORMON  VERIFIED. 

and  silver,  and  "precious  ores/'  The  Book  of  Mor- 
mon was  attacked  upon  the  ground  that  the  ancient 
Americans  never  at  any  time  had  iron,  but  not  long 
afterward  it  was  sustained  by  archaeology  as  the  fol- 
lowing shows:  On  page  248  of  Ancient  America, 
Baldwin  quotes  from  Molina,  who  says:  "Iron; 
which  has  been  thought  unknown  to  the  ancient 
Americans,  has  particular  names  in  some  of  their 
tongues." 

Baldwin  says:     "It  is  impossible  to  conceive  how 
the  Peruvians  were  able  to  cut  and  work  stone  in 
such   a   masterly  way,   or  to   construct  their  great 
roads  and  aqueducts  without  the  use  of  iron  tools. 
Some  of  the  languages  of  the  country,  and  perhaps 
all,  had  names  for  iron." — Ancient  America,  p.  248. 
Priest  says  of  a  mirror  found  at  Circleville:     "On 
this  mirror  was  a  plate  of  iron  which  had  become 
an  oxide;    but  before  it  was  disturbed  by  the  spade 
resembled  a  plate  of  cast  ^Vo7^."— American  Antiqui- 
ties, p.  185.     Caleb  Atwater  says:     "Iron  has  been 
found  in  very  few  instances,  having  oxidized.     They 
made  use  of  it  in  some  cases  for  knives  and  swords, 
the  remains  of  which  have  been  discovered  in  many 
tumuli."— Writings  of  Caleb   Atwater,  published  in 
December,    1833,   page  127.      Bancroft   says   of  the 
ThHnkeets,    a    wild    tribe    who    lived    north   of  the 
Columbia   River:     "They   excel   in   the  working   of 
stone  and  copper,  making  necklaces,  bracelets,  and 
rings;    they   can   also  forge  iron . "—Native  Races, 
volume  1,  page  107.     Of  Peruvian  remains,  Bancroft 
says:     "The  ancient  people  were  especially  skillful 
in  the  construction  of  aqueducts,  some  of  which  were 
reported  by  the  early  writers  as  several  hundred  miles 
in  length,  and  a  few  of  which  of  less  extent  are  still 
in  actual  use."— Ibid.,  vol.  4,  p.  801.     Baldwin  says: 
"It  is  noticed  everywhere  that  the  ancient  Peruvians 
made  large  use  of  Aqueducts,  which  they  built  with 
notable  skill,   using    hewn    stones  and    cement." — 


BOOK  OF  MORMON  VERIFIED.  15 

Ancient  America,  p.  243.  He  mentions  one  which 
was  450  miles  long.  How  could  such  works  be  hewn 
from  stone  without  iron  tools?  Perhaps  they  did  it 
with  their  finger-nails !  Iron,  in  time,  will  rust  away, 
and  for  this  reason,  alone,  we  have  but  few  remains 
to  prove  their  knowledge  of  this  metal. 

The  Book  of  Mormon  says  on  page  433:  "There 
were  many  highways  cast  up,  and  many  roads  made, 
which  led  from  city  to  city,  and  from  land  to  land." 
This  statement  is  proven  true  by  modern  writers,  as 
shown  by  Nadaillac,  who  says  of  the  ancient  Peruvian 
civilization : 

"At  the  present  day  its  memory  is  everywhere 
preserved  in  the  imposing  ruins  covering  the  country, 
the  fortress  defending  it,  the  roads  intersecting  it,  the 
acesquias,  or  canals  conducting  the  water  needed  for 
fertiUzing  the  fields."— Prehistoric  America,  pp.  387 
and  388.  Also  Baldwin,  who  says:  "Nothing  in 
ancient  Peru  was  more  remarkable  than  the  public 
roads.  No  ancient  people  has  left  traces  of  works 
more  astonishing  than  these,  so  vast  was  their  extent 
and  so  great  the  skill  and  labor  required  to  construct 
them.  One  of  these  roads  ran  along  the  mountains 
through  the  whole  length  of  the  empire,  from  Quito 
to  Chili.  Another  starting  from  this  at  Cuzco,  went 
down  to  the  coast  and  extended  northward  to  the 
equator.  These  roads  were  built  on  beds  or  'deep 
understructures'  of  masonry.  The  width  of  the  road- 
ways varied  from  twenty  to  twenty -five  feet,  and 
they  were  made  level  and  smooth  by  paving,  and  in 
some  places  by  a  sort  of  macadamizing  with  pulver- 
ized stone  mixed  with  lime  and  bituminous  cement. 
This  cement  was  used  in  all  the  masonry.  On  each 
side  of  the  roadway  was  'a  very  strong  wall  more 
than  a  fathom  in  thickness.'  These  roads  went  over 
marshes,  rivers,  and  great  chasms  of  the  Sierras,  and 
through  rocky  precipices  and  mountain  sides.  The 
great  road  passing  along  the  mountains  was  a  mar- 


16  BOOK   OF  MORMON   VERIFIED. 

velous  work:  In  many  places  its  way  was  out 
through  rock  for  leagues.  Great  ravines  were  filled 
up  with  solid  masonry.  Rivers  were  crossed  by 
means  of  a  curious  kind  of  suspension  bridges,  and 
no  obstruction  was  encountered  which  the  builders 
did  not  overcome.  The  builders  of  our  Pacific  rail- 
road, with  their  superior  engineering  skill  and 
mechanical  appliances,  might  reasonably  shrink  from 
the  cost  and  the  difficulties  of  such  a  work  as  this." 
*'It  was  quite  as  long  as  the  two  Pacific  railroads,  and 
its  wild  route  among  the  mountains  was  far  more 
difficult."  *'They  are  called  *roads  of  the  Incas,'  but 
they  were  probably  much  older  than  the  time  of 
these  rulers."— Ancient  America,  pp.  243-245. 

The  record  of  the  Incas  extends  to  A.  D.  1021  and 
how  much  farther  their  history,  if  known,  would  take 
us  we  can  only  conjecture,  but  Baldwin  says  "it 
is  now  understood  that  they  represent  only  the  last 
period  in  the  history  of  a  civilization  which  began 
much  farther  back  in  the  past." — Ibid.,  p.  261.  There- 
fore, if  these  roads  are  "much  older"  than  the  time 
of  the  Incas,  as  Baldwin  states,  it  would  agro)  with 
the  Book  of  Mormon  account,  which  shows  some  of 
them  to  have  been  begun  as  early  as  A.  D.  27.  No 
people  known  to  the  first  discoverers  of  this  region 
could  have  accomplished  such  an  enormous  work  as 
the  constructing  of  these  roads  involved,  and  no  other 
record  than  the  Book  of  Mormon  claims  to  be  a 
history  of  these  ancient  people. 

Frequent  wars  and  contentions  finally  caused  some 
of  the  Nephites,  led  by  Mosiah,  to  flee  from  the 
Lamanites  who  had  become  the  most  numerous,  and 
about  200  B.  c.  they  arrived  among  the  Zarahemlaites, 
uniting  with  them  and  finally  spreading  out  over 
North  America.  Many  of  the  people  became  very 
wicked  and  about  50  B.  c.  there  was  organized  a 
secret  band,  afterward  called  Gadianton  robbers,  who 


BOOK  OF  MORMON  VERIFIED.  17 

became  very  numerous,  dwelling  in  the  mountains 
and  wilderness.      Prophets  also  began  to  go  forth 
exhorting  the  people  to  repent,  saying  that  Christ 
should  shortly  come  to  earth  and  giving  signs  that 
would  shortly  come  to  pass.     Finally,  634  years  after 
Lehi  left  Jerusalem,  there  ''arose  a  great  storm"  and 
a  '^terrible  tempest"  and  thunder  that  "did  shake  the 
whole  earth  as  if  it  was  about  to  divide  asunder,"  and 
many  cities  were  destroyed,  some  buried  or  sunk,  the 
roads  broken  up,  and  especially  ''in  the  land  north- 
ward"   where   "the    whole    face    of    the    land    was 
changed,"  and  sixteen  cities  are  mentioned  by  the 
Book  of  Mormon   as  having  been  destroyed,  with 
many  inhabitants.      This  tempest    and    earthquake 
lasted  three  hours  and  "a  thick  darkness"  which 
lasted  "for  the  space  of  three  days"  prevailed  over 
all  the  land.     See  Book  of  Mormon,  pp.  438,  439. 
This    statement    is   sustained    by    the  multitude    of 
upheavals  seen  in  America,  by  the  ruins  discovered  in 
recent  years  buried  at  various  depths,  and  by  the  tra- 
ditions of  the  aborigines  of  this  continent.    Bancroft's 
"Native  Races,"  volume  S,  page  209,  says  of  these 
traditions:     "The  second  age,  the  'sun  of  air,'  termi- 
nated with  a  great  hurricane  which  swept  away  trees, 
rocks,  houses,  and  people,  although  many  men  and 
women  escaped,  chiefly  such  as  took  refuge  in  caves 
which  the  hurricane  could  not  reach.     After  several 
days  the  survivors  came  out  to  find  a  multitude  of 
apes  living  in  the  land;  and  all  this  time  they  were  in 
darkness,  seeing  neither  the   sun  nor  moon."      Of 
Aztec  traditions  St.  Giles  says  there  were  "four  great 
ages  or  cycles,  each  measuring  thousands  of  years, 
each  ended  by  the  action  of  the  elements."     "The 
third  age  was  closed  by  tempests  and  hurricanes  so 
disastrous  that  only  few  of  mortals  were  left." — Faiths 
of  the  World,  p.  301.     Where   did   these  traditions 
originate,  if  not  from  actual  occurrences?  and  how  do 
they,  in  substance,  happen  to  agree  with  scientific 


18  BOOK  OF  MORMON  VERIFIED. 

disclosures  recently  made,  if  the  Book  of  Mormon  is 
untrue? 

After  the  darkness  passed  away,  a  great    multi- 
tude gathered  "round  about  the  temple  which  was 
in  the  land  Bountiful"  (Central  America),  convers- 
ing about  this  fulfillment  of  prophecy,  when  ''they 
heard  a  voice  as  if   it  came   out   of  heaven;"    this 
they     heard     three     times,     and    as    they     looked 
*'Behold,  they  saw  a  man  descending  out  of  heaven; 
and  he  was  clothed  in  a  white  robe,  and  he  came 
down  and  stood  in  the  midst  of  them."     **And  it 
came  to  pass  that  he  stretched  forth  his  hand,  and 
spake  unto  the  people,  saying,  Behold  I  am  Jesus 
Christ,  whom  the  prophet&^  testified  shall  come  into 
the  world."— Book  of  Mormon,  p.  443.     This  appear- 
ance and  teachings  of  Jesus  Christ  to  the  people  of 
this    continent    after    his    crucifixion    at   Jerusalem 
are  a  bone   of  contention  with    those  not  believers 
in  the  Book  of  Mormon,  but  to  us  are  entirely  rea- 
sonable and  scriptural.     Christ  is  ''the  Savior  of  all 
men"   (1  Timothy  4:  10).     He  has   "made  of   one 
blood   all   nations   of    men  to    dwell  upon    all    the 
face  of  the  earth,"  in  order  that  they  "might  seek 
the  Lord"  "and  find  him"  (Acts  17:  26,  27);  hence 
why  not  these  as  well  as  others  find  him?    He  was 
to  die  "not  for  that  nation  only,  but  that  also  he 
should  gather  together  in  one  the  children  of  God 
that   were   scattered   abroad."     (John   11:52.)     He 
said:     "I   am  not  sent   but  unto  the  lost  sheep  of 
the  house  of  Israel"  (Matt.  15:  24),  yet  he  tells  us 
m   John  10:  16:     "And   other  sheep  I  have,  which 
are   not   of   this   fold    [Judah]:    them   also    I  must 
brmg,  and  they    shall    hear    my  voice;    and  there 
shall  be   one  fold  and  one  shepherd."    The  fold  of 
Judah  had  heard  his  voice,  and  hence  his  appear- 
ance to  the  fold  of  Joseph  on  this  continent.     Eze- 
kiel  37:  15-22   shows   Judah  and  Joseph  to  be  the 
two  folds  that  shall  be  gathered  with  Christ  as  their 


BOOK  OF  MORMON  VERIFIED,  19 

shepherd,  hence  those  who  have  died  in  Christ  of 
either  fold  will  reign  with  him  at  his  coming,  as 
also  those  alive  at  his  appearing  who  have  received 
him.  But  we  leave  this  part  of  the  subject  and 
examine  that  from  archaeologists,  which  abundantly 
attest  that  Christ  did  appear  or  was  known  here 
as  well  as  in  Palestine. 

Donnelly  says:  "When  the  Spanish  missionaries 
first  set  foot  upon  the  soil  of  America,  in  the  fifteenth 
century,  they  were  amazed  to  find  that  the  cross  was 
as  devoutly  worshipped  by  the  red  Indians  as  by 
themselves.*'— Atlantis,  p.  319. 

Bancroft  mentions  a  "cross  nine  feet  high"  on 
Cozumel  Island  which  was  "annually  visited  by  a 
great  number  of  pilgrims." — Native  Races,  vol.  2, 
pp.  792  and  793.  He  also  says  in  volume  3,  pages 
467  and  468:  "One  of  the  most  remarkable  emblems 
of  Maya  worship,  in  the  estimation  of  the  conquerors, 
was  the  cross,  which  has  also  been  noticed  in  other 
parts  of  Central  America  and  in  Mexico."  Kings- 
borough  mentions  traditions  in  Yucatan  of  the  Father 
called  Yzona,  the  Son  called  Bacab,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost  called  Echvah  (vol.  6,  p.  164).  According  to 
these  traditions  Bacab  was  crucified  upon  a  cross. 
Of  this,  he  says  on  page  166:  "So  in  these  Mexican 
paintings  many  analogies  may  be  traced  between  the 
events  to  which  they, evidently  relate,  and  the  history 
of  the  crucifixion  of  Christ  as  contained  in  the  New 
Testament.  The  subject  of  them  all  is  the  same, — 
the  death  of  Quecalcoatle  upon  the  cross,  as  an 
atonement  for  the  sins  of  mankind.  In  the  fourth 
page  of  the  Borgian  MS.,  he  seems  to  be  crucified 
between  two  persons  who  are  in  the  act  of  reviling 
him."  On  page  163,  he  says  Gomez  while  in 
Guiaxca  was  shown  "drawings  which  had  been 
copied  from  some  extremely  ancient  painting.  .  .  . 
She  who  represented  Our  Lady  had  her  hair  tied  up 
in  the  manner  in  which  the  Indian  women  tie  and 


20  BOOK  OP  MORMON  VERIFIED. 

?f ifrii*^®'"'  ^^u'  ^l^  ^  *^«  ^'^o*  ''^J^ind  was  inserted 
9h«  wL  T^'  ^yj^'''^  "was  intended  to  show  that 
ill  ^u^  '"''^*  ^°^y'  and  that  a  great  prophet 
would  be  born  of  her,  who  would  come  from  hea?en 
whom  she  should  bring  forth  without  connection  with 
man,  still  remammg  a  virgin,  and  that  his  own  peo- 
^^^ZT^  persecute  that  great  prophet,  and  meditate 
evil  against  him,  and  would  put  him  to  death,  cruoi- 
tying  him  upon  a  cross;— and  accordingly  he  was 
l?rSf  f  the  painting  as  crucified  with  his  hands 
ana  teet  tied  to  the  cross  and  without  nails."  (See 
Kmgsborough's  Mexican  Antiquities,  vol.  6.) 

J^.  <M«  i^'^P^^  "h^  ?"="  ^^  ^  °^°^«  which  Baldwin 
says  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  central  object  of 
interest.  It  was  wonderfully  sculptured  and  deco- 
rated; human  figures  stand  near  it,  and  some  grave 
wTn^^®""^  *lh«  represented.  The  infant  held 
toward  the  cross  by  one  of  the  figures  suggests  a 
ohristenmg  ceremony.  The  cross  ii  one  of  the  most 
f^™<^°.K  ®,?hlems  present  in  all  the  ruins.  This  led 
the  Catholic  missionaries  to  assume  that  knowledge 
of  Christianity  had  been  brought  to  that  part  of 
Americalong  before  their  arrival. "-Ancient  America, 

fT,?^'*^T°f  as  clearly  confirming  the  Bible,  as  are 
these  which  sustam  the  Book  of  Mormon,  would  be 
received  with  eagerness  by  the  Christian  world,  but 
withm  the  same  period  of  time  those  of  the  Book  of 
Mormon  preponderate  in  number,  variety,  and  con- 
vincing proof .  0',  o-iiu  ouii 

^.^he  Book  of  Mormon  also  shows  that  the  doctrines 
ot  baptism  and  the  resurrection  were  taught  by  these 
ancient  religious  teachers  in  America,  Ind  this  is 
tr^llL^TTlt  hy  various  authors,  from  which  we 
present,  first,  the  Anhquarian  Journal,  \ohxme  20 

saT-  "M?F  H^r  'v^''"'^  "^^^^'^-^  ^  ^°°*"'t« 
says.       Mr.  P.  H.  Cushing  was  initiated  into  one  of 

the  secret  orders  of  the  Zunis  and  was  baptized  by 


BOOK  OF  MORMON  VERIFIED.  21 

one  of  the  Zuni  chiefs  in  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  while  on  an  eastern  tour  with  these  chiefs. 
Also  in  Rivero's  Peruvian  Antiquities,  page  180,  says : 
**Baptism     was    general    among    all    the    Peruvian 
nations  west  of  the  Andes." 

De  Roo  says:  '^Baptism  was  m  the  Mexican 
empire  a  religious  ceremony,  which  in  Yucatan  was 
called  'Zihil,'  signifying  to  be  born  again;  and  the 
Nahua  nations  freely  admitted  that  it  would  cleanse 
the  soul  from  all  sin."  (See  History  of  America 
before  Columbus,   published  1900,   volume  1,   page 

itfi7  ^ 

St.  Giles  says  of  this  custom:  **None  might  marry 
who  had  not  been  baptized;  an  unbaptized  person 
was  held  to  be  incapable  of  leading  a  good  life;  the 
banquet  at  baptism  was  called  the  Descent  of  God, 
and  the  baptized  were  spoken  of  as  'born  again.  — 
Faiths  of  the  World,  p.  294.  A  belief  in  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul  and  ''resurrection  of  the  body  was 
common  both  in  South  and  North  America,  and 
especially  pronounced  in  Mexico  and  Peru  (see  Con- 
quest of  Peru,  published  1847,  vol.  1,  p.  89).         ^ 

Bancroft  says:  "The  opinions  of  the  Mexicans 
with  regard  to  the  resurrection  of  the  body  accorded 
with  those  of  the  Jews."— Native  Races,  vol.  5,  p.  86. 

So  numerous  are  the  traditions  in  America  which 
agree  with  the  Old  World  history  that  Baldwin  says : 
"The  traditions  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  are 
without  meaning  unless  it  be  admitted  that  there  was 
communication  between  the  two  continents  in  times 
of  which  we  have  no  history."— Ancient  America,  p. 
186.  In  another  work.  Prehistoric  Nations,  published 
1873,  he,  on  page  403,  says  of  "very  remote 
antiquity":  "Nor  is  it  improbable  that  there  was 
communication  across  the  Pacific." 

The  Nephites  were  an  "exceeding  fair"  people, 
while  the  Lamanites  were  cursed  with  darkness 
because  of  their  iniquity,  and  the  Indians  are  their 


22 


BOOK  OF  MORMON   VERIFIED. 


descendants  according  to  the  Book  of  Mormon 
account.  The  fact  that  a  light-haired  race,  entirely 
different  from  the  Indians,  did  dwell  here  is  clearly 
proven.  •' 

The  Antiquarian  Journal,  volume  20.  page  259,  says 
of  a  skeleton  found  in  New  Mexico  r  '  "A  bunch  of 
this  person's  hair  was  about  two  inches  in  length  and 
was  as  fine  as  average  Caucasian  hair,  a  little  inclined 
to  be  curly,  and  of  a  dark  brown  color,  which  is  evi- 
dence to  my  mind  that  they  were  a  different  race 
trom  the  ordinary  Indians.  The  skulls  dug  out  were 
well  formed,  not  the  shape  of  the  Indian,  but  more 
resembling  that  of  the  white  race,  full  in  front  and 
wide  above  and  in  front  of  the  ears,  showing  that 
toey  had  well  developed  and  well  shaped  heads." 
H-ighty  skeletons  were  found  at  the  above  place. 

bhort  says:  "The  siliceous  sand  and  marl  of  the 
plain  southward  of  Arica,  where  the  most  remarkable 
cemeteries  are  situated,  is  slightly  impregnated  with 
common  salt  as  well  as  nitrate  and  sulphate  of  soda. 
Ihese  conditions,  together  with  the  dry  atmosphere 
rivalling  that  of  Egypt,  and  in  which  fleshy  matter 
dries  without  putrefaction,  the  human  hair  has  been 
perfectly  preserved,  and  comes  to  us  as  one  of  the 
best  evidences  of  the  diversity  of  the  American  races 
yet  produced.  In  general  it  is  a  hghtish  brown,  and 
ot  a  fineness  of  texture  which  equals  that  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race.  ...  The  ancient  Peruvians 
appea,r,  from  numerous  examples  of  hair  found  in 
tfteir  tombs,  to  have  been  an  auburn-haired  race."— 

T*  ^u  '^®"*^^"®  °^  Antiquity,  pages  186  and  187. 
i  L  1^®.,  °°^  °*  Mormon  contains  not  "a  grain  of 
truth,  then  Mr.  Short's  statements  are  also  false:  for 
what  science  was  long  in  discovering,  the  Book  of 
Mormoji  presented  years  before  to  the  world.  Haines 
says  the  Mandans  "wera  remarkable  for  their  fair 
complexion,  blue  eyes,  and  lack  of  prowess  in  war  "— 
American  Indian,  p.  235.     Short  says  on  page  189  of 


BOOK  OP  MORMON  VERIFIED.  23 

Menominees  or  ''White  Indians":  ''The  peculiarity 
of  the  complexion  of  this  people  has  been  marked 
from  the  first  time  a  European  encountered  them.  ' 
Evidencing  the  truth  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  state- 
ment of  their  Israelitish  origin,  we  now  present  the 
following  from  Bancroft:  "Many  traces  of  their 
[Jewish]  old  laws  and  ceremonies  are  to  be  found 
among  them  at  the  present  day.  .  .  .  There  do  actu- 
ally exist,  besides,  many  Hebraic  traces  in  the  Ameri- 
can languages."— Native  Races,  vol.  5,  pp.  82,  83. 
Page  81  says :  "The  Jews  were  famous  for  fine  work 
in  stone,  as  is  shown  by  the  buildings  of  Jerusalem, 
and  a  similar  excellence  in  this  art  is  seen  m  the 
American  ruins.  The  Mexicans  have  a  tradition  of  a 
journey  undertaken  at  the  command  of  a  god,  and 
continued  for  a  long  time  under  the  direction  of  cer- 
tain high  priests,  who  miraculously  obtained  supphes 
for  their  support." 

High  priests  were  a  Jewish  institution  and  were 
also  had  in  America  according  to  the  Book  of  Mor- 
mon; this  Bancroft  confirms;  also  Donnelly  says: 
"The  priesthood  was  thoroughly  organized  in  Mexico 
and  Peru.  They  were  prophets  as  well  as  priests." — 
Atlantis,  p.  159. 

Le  Plongeon's  Sacred  Mysteries  among  the  Mayas 
and  Quiches,  pubhshed  in  1886,  page  48,  says  Mr. 
Gushing  was  commissioned  by  the  Smithsonian  Insti- 
tution to  study  the  customs  and  manners  of  the  Zuiiis 
of  New  Mexico.  He  discovered  "the  existence  of 
tioelve  sacred  orders,  with  their  priests,  their  initia- 
tions, their  sacred  rites,  as  carefully  guarded  as  the 
secrets  of  the  ancient  sacred  mysteries  to  which  they 
bear  great  resemblance." 

Concerning  traces  of  Hebrew  in  American  lan- 
guages, Priest  saysr  "Their  Jewish  customs  are  too 
many  to  be  enumerated  in  this  work."— American 
Antiquities,  p.  59. 

Boudinot,  Adair,  and  several  others  mention  this 


24 


BOOK  OP  MORMON  VERIFIED. 


ENGLISH 

INDIAN                       ] 

•God 

Ale 

Shiloh 

Shilo 

heavens 

chemim 

father 

abba 

man 

Ish 

wife 

awah 

winter 

kora 

woman 

ishto 

his  wife 

Hani 

this  man 

vwoh 

man  of  god 

ashto  alio 

very  hot 

hew  hara  or  hala 

Jehovah 

Yohewah 

singularity,  and  lists  of  Hebrew  words  with  their 
English  and  Indian  equivalents  are  given  also  in 
Haines'  American  Indian,  published  in  1888,  page 
100,  from  which  we  extract  a  partial  list  as  follows  : 

HEBREW  OR  CHALDEAN. 

Ale  Alein 

Shiloh 

Bhemin 

abba 

ish 

eweh  eve 

korah 

ishto 

lihene 

huah 

ishda  alloa 

hara  hara 

Jehovah 

Several  writers  show  Indian  words  in  abundance 
which  are  similar  to  the  Hebrew.  Although  this 
appears  true  of  only  certain  tribes,  yet  the  similarity 
IS  too  perfect  in  many  instances  to  be  regarded  as 
accidental,  and  some  words  are  identical. 

Adair  says:  ''They  always  invoke  Yo  He  Wah  a 
considerable  space  of  time  before  they  apply  any 
medicines,  let  the  case  require  ever  so  speedy  an 
apphcation."— History  of  the  American  Indians,  p. 
172,  pubHshed  at  London  in  1775. 

The  Prophetic  Watchman,  September  14,  1866,  said 
of  a  stone  relic:  ''It  was  found  in  1860,  and  has 
engraved  upon  it,  Moses  and  the  Ten  Command- 
ments. .  .  .  Over  the  figure  is  a  Hebrew  word  signi- 
fying Moses.  The  other  inscriptions  are  almost 
literally  the  words  found  in  some  parts  of  the  Bible 
and  the  Ten  Commandments  are  given  in  part  and 
entirely  the  longest  being  abbreviated.  The  alpha- 
bet used,  it  is  thought,  is  the  original  Hebrew  one,  as 
there  are  letters  not  known  in  the  Hebrew  alphabet 
now  m  use,  but  bearing  a  resemblance  to  them.     All 


BOOK  OF  MORMON  VERIFIED.  25 

things  on  this  stone  point  to  the  time  before  Ezra." — 
Palmyra  to  Independence,  p.  69. 

As  the  Nephites  came  from  Palestine  about  sixty - 
five  years  before  the  time  of  Ezra,  it  is  but  reasonable 
that  a  stone  engraved  by  them  soon  after  they  arrived 
in  America  would  ''point  to  the  time  before  Ezra" 
instead  of  after,  although  many  years  afterward  the 
Nephites  altered  their  characters  by  combining 
Hebrew  and  Egyptian  and  naming  it  ''reformed 
Egyptian." 

The  Gadianton  robbers,  previously  mentioned, 
after  a  time  became  a  strong  and  numerous  band,  and 
the  Book  of  Mormon  says  of  them:  "And  they  did 
commit  murder  and  plunder;  and  then  they  would 
retreat  back  into  the  mountains,  and  into  the  wilder- 
ness and  secret  places." — P.  408. 

Also  on  page  423  we  read:  "The  Gadianton  rob- 
bers, who  dwelt  upon  the  mountains,  who  did  infest 
the  land;  for  so  strong  were  their  holds  and  their 
secret  places,  that  the  people  could  not  overpower 
them."  These  bands  of  robbers  are  frequently  men- 
tioned in  the  Book  of  Mormon ;  they  lived  in  the  time 
of  the  later  civilization, .  the  Nephites,  and  their 
remains  are  doubtless  the  same  that  are  known  now 
as  "ruins  of  the  Cliff-dwellers,"  which  are  found  in  a 
variety  of  places.  Some  of  them  were  discovered  by 
Simpson  in  1849,  but  hardly  anything  was  published 
concerning  them  until  F.  V.  Hayden's  report  to  the 
government  in  1874-76. 

Justin  Windsor  confirms  this.  He  says  the  reports 
of  Hayden  "brought  to  us  in  those  of  1874-76  the 
knowledge  of  the  Cliff-dwellers."— Narrative  and 
Critical  History  of  America,  p.  440,  published  in  1889. 
For  years  they  were  thought  to  have  been  the  most 
ancient  of  American  civilizations,  but  more  recent 
research  shows  to  the  contrary,  and  again  the  Book 
of  Mormon  record  is  sustained. 

The  American  Antiquarian  says :     '  'It  was  formerly 


26  BOOK   OF  MORMON   VERIFIED. 

the  ©pinion  that  the  Cliff-dwellers  were  among  the 
most  ancient  people  in  America.  ...  This  opinion 
has  been  greatly  modified  by  recent  exploration,  and 
the  evidence  now  is,  that  so  far  from  being  the 
earhest  people  they  belonged  to  the  last  of  three 
periods  of  occupation."— Vol.  19,  p.  100,  published  in 
1897.  On  the  same  page  he  says:  *'The  people  had 
dwelt  and  continued  in  a  peaceful  and  an  agricultural 
condition  for  many  years,  and  perhaps  centuries,  but 
had  at  last  suffered  from  the  attacks  of  wild  tribes, 
who  invaded  their  possessions,  kept  them  constantly 
disturbed,  and  drove  them  first  to  the  mesas  Snd 
afterward  to  the  cliffs,  as  the  only  places  where  they 
could  be  secure."  The  Book  of  Mormon  account 
agrees  with  the  foregoing  except  that  it  shows  the 
Gadianton  robbers  to  have  been  driven  to  the  mesas 
and  cliffs  instead  of  the  "peaceful  and  agricultural 
people,"  which  is  the  most  reasonable,  as  the  follow- 
ing shows:  ''They  (cliff- dwellings)  were  not  mere 
refuges  for  the  people  in  the  time  of  attack,  nor  sum- 
mer homes  for  an  agricultural  people,  .  .  .  they  made 
them  strongholds  which  they  occupied  permanently." 
—American  Antiquities,  vol.  20,  p.  87.  This  is  pre- 
cisely what  the  Book  of  Mormon  stated  nearly  seventy 
years  beforOo 

The  Gadianton  robbers  finally  united  with  the 
Lamanites  and  exterminated  the  Nephita  nation,  after 
years  of  wars  which  ended  more  than  four  hundred 
years  after  Christ's  birth;  therefore  the  inference  is 
that  the  Gadianton  robbers  were  builders  of  both  the 
cliff-dwellings  and  the  pueblos,  if  we  accept  Book  of 
Mormon  history.  Hence  both  were  occupied  at  the 
same  time,  although  archaeologists  have  formerly 
supposed  them  to  be  two  distinct  peoples,  living  at 
different  periods,  yet  they  find  it  impossible  to  prove 
that  such  was  the  case.  The  American  Antiquarian 
says  on  this  point:  ''It  is  indeed  difficult  to  draw 
the  distinction  between  the  earlier  and  later  people. 


BOOK  OP  MORMON  VERIFIED.  27 

for  the  pueblos  and  the  cliff- dwellings  are  built  in  the 
same  general  style,  and  contain  similar  relics  and 
specimens  of  art,  and  are  attended  with  similar 
pictographs  and  symbols." — Ypl.  19,  pp.  100,  101. 

While  the  Lamanites,  the  descendants  of  which  are 
the  American  Indians,  were  cursed  with  a  dark  skin, 
the  Gadianton  robbers  were  a  white  people,  except 
some  who  had  come  from  the  Lamanites  to  unite  with 
them;  therefore  it  is  not  strange  that  their  remains 
show  some  of  them  to  have  been  a  light-haired  race. 

Of  Cliff-dweller  remains  at  the  World's  Fair, 
Chicago,  '*Stebbins'  Lectures"  says,  page  63: 
"Upon  all  the  skulls  the  hair  was  as  fine  as  the 
hair  of  the  white  people  of  our  time,  and  some  was 
both  fine  and  light  colored.  Indian  hair  is  all  dark, 
all  coarse.  The  skulls  were  shaped  like  the  skulls  of 
white  people."  Also  *'Appleton's  Annual  Cyclo- 
pedia," 1899,  page  19,  says:  "A  number  of  well- 
preserved  mummies  found  by  a  prospector  in  a  sealed 
cliff  dwelling  in  the  upper  Verde  canon  had  well- 
developed  skulls,  covered  with  fine,  silky  hair,  and 
were  bandaged  with  cotton  and  woolen  cloths  of  vari- 
ous degrees  of  fineness,  some  of  it  embroidered  in 
open  work." 

When  the  Gadianton  robbers  amalgamated  with 
the  Lamanites  it  would  have  naturally  produced  a 
variety  of  complexions  in  their  descendants,  and  vari- 
ous authors  show  this  to  be  true  of  the  Indian  tribes. 
On  this  point  Prichard  says,  volume  1,  page  269: 
"The  American  races  show  nearly  as  great  a  variety 
in  this  respect  as  the  nations  of  the  old  continent. 
There  are  among  them,  white  races  with  a  florid  com- 
plexion."— Researches,  published  1841. 

From  Baldwin  we  quote  as  follows:  "It  has  been 
suggested  that  the  Mandan  Indians  were  a  separated 
and  lost  fragment  of  the  mound -building  people, 
they  being  noticeably  unlike  other  Indians  in  many 
respects,  lighter  in  color,  and  peculiar  in  manners 


28  BOOK   OF  MORMON   VERIFIED. 

and  customs.  .  .  .  That  the  Mandans  were  like  what 
a  lost  community  of  Mound-builders  might  have 
become  by  degeneration  through  mixture  and  asso- 
ciation with  barbarians  may  be  supposed." — Ancient 
America,  p.  74. 

As  we  have  said,  the  Book  of  Mormon  shows  they 
are  from  the  Lamanites  instead  of  the  Mound-build- 
ers, which  is  sustained  by  researches  of  recent  time, 
while  Baldwin  says:  ''Those  who  seek  to  identify 
the  Mound-builders  with  the  barbarous  Indians  find 
nothing  that  will  support  their  hypothesis." — ^Ibid., 
p.  62. 

Of  the  Menominees,  Short  says:  *'The  whiteness 
of  these  Indians,  .  .  .  early  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  Jesuit  missionaries,  and  has  often  been  com- 
mented upon  by  travelers.  The  peculiarity  of  the 
complexion  of  this  people  has  been  marked  from  the 
first  time  a  European  encountered  them." — North 
Americans  of  Antiquity,  p.  189.  Catlin  also  remarks 
on  this  singularity  among  various  tribes.  Is  it  likely 
that  any  man,  however  well  educated,  could  have 
written  such  an  accurate  history  of  these  aborigines 
years  before  the  facts  were  known  to  the  world, 
except,  indeed,  he  had  received  a  true  record  written 
by  themselves?  Indeed,  if  all  the  works  of  modern 
archaeologists  had  been  then  accessible,  he  still  could 
not  have  accomplished  such  a  work  as  the  Book  of 
Mormon,  which  has  stood  the  test  of  every  modern 
investigation  and  has  proven  its  account  true  in  spite 
of  its  opposition  to  the  erroneous  theories  had  at  the 
time  it  was  first  published. 

These  aboriginal  inhabitants  also  used  coins  of 
different  values,  according  to  the  Book  of  Mormon. 
This  is  sustained  by  Donnelly,  who  says:  *'A  round 
copper  coin  with  a  serpent  stamped  on  it  was  found 
at  Palenque,  and  T-shaped  copper  coins  are  very 
abundant  in  the  ruins  of  Central  America." — 
Atlantis,  p.  345. 


BOOK   OF  MORMON   VERIFIED.  .  29 

Priest  says,  at  Circleville,  ''was  dug  up  from 
beneath  the  roots  of  a  hickory  tree  seven  feet  eight 
inches  in  circumference,  a  copper  coin,  but  bearing 
no  comparison  with  any  coin  now  known." — Ameri- 
can Antiquities,  p.  175,  fifth  edition. 

The  Pittsburg  Leader,  November  6,  1891,  says  that 
at  Laconia,  "A  well  was  being  drilled;  at  the  depth 
of  one  hundred  twenty-five  feet  the  drillings  showed 
they  were  passing  through  a  layer  of  brick.  ...  As 
there  were  no  brick  houses  in  town  and  never  had 
been  it  could  not  be  believed.  While  quite  a  crowd 
was  around  the  well-hole,  the  men  brought  up  to  the 
surface  a  lot  of  mud  and  examined  it,  as  they  had 
done  from  the  time  they  found  the  brick  residue.  In 
the  mass  of  mud  there  was  a  small  piece  of  metal, 
which  when  cleaned  off,  was  found  to  be  a  piece  of 
money.  It  was  octagonal  in  shape  and  had  hiero- 
glyphics on  it,  which  could  not  be  deciphered,  but 
which  were  evidently  meant  to  represent  the  value  of 
the  piece.  ...  It  is  claimed  by  antiquarians  here 
that  the  bricks  and  coin  are  the  relics  of  a  prehistoric 
race  which  lived  here  many  years  before  the  Indians 
and  built  the  pavements  and  roads  which  were  dis- 
covered at  Memphis,  on  the  other  side  of  the  river 
above  here." — Palmyra  to  Independence,  pp.  94,  95. 
Baldwin  says  the  Muyscas  north  of  Quito  ''used  small 
circular  gold  plates  as  coin." — Ancient  America,  p. 
271. 

An  extended  list  of  finds  could  be  made  but  would 
be  superfluous.  We  therefore  omit  them,  and  hasten 
to  an  account  of  the  closing  scenes  of  Book  of  Mor- 
mon history,  which  states  that  the  record  having 
been  handed  down  from  ancestors  was  finally 
deposited  by  the  last  of  the  Nephites  in  the  hill 
Cumorah,  where  it  continued  until  delivered  to  Joseph 
Smith  for  translation  in  1827. 

Traditions  of  "sacred  records"  hid  in  the  earth  are 


30  BOOK  OF  MORMON  VERIFIED. 

recorded  in  Priest's  "American  Antiquities,*'  page 
69;  also  in  "Indian  Myths,"  pages  225,  226. 

Bancroft  mentions  "a  complaint  in  the  Quiche 
annals  known  as  the  Popul  Vuh,  that  the  'national 
book'  containing  the  ancient  records  of  their  people 
had  been  lost." — Native  Races,  vol.  2,  p.  770. 

Boudinot  says  of  the  Nauatalcas  who  live  in 
Mexico:  "That  their  forefathers  wandered  eighty 
years  in  search  of  it  (Mexico)  through  a  strict  obedi- 
ence to  the  commands  of  the  Great  Spirit :  .  .  .  that 
the  book  which  the  white  people  have  was  once 
theirs:  that  while  they  had  it  they  prospered  exceed- 
ingly. .  .  .  They  also  say  that  their  forefathers  were 
possessed  of  an  extraordinary  divine  spirit,  by  which 
they  foretold  future  events  and  controlled  the  com- 
mon course  of  nature,  and  this  they  transmitted  to 
their  offspring  on  condition  of  their  obeying  the 
sacred  laws.  That  they  did  by  these  means  bring 
down  showers  of  plenty  on  the  beloved  people.  But 
that  this  power,  for  a  long  time  past  had  entirely 
ceased."— A  Star  in  the  West,  pp.  110,  111. 

The  Book  of  Mormon  was  engraved  upon  gold 
plates,  about  seven  by  eight  inches  in,  size,  not  as 
thick  as  tin,  in  characters  called  "reformed  Egyp- 
tian"; both  Egyptian  and  Hebrew  "hath  been  altered 
by  us,"  says  the  Book  of  Mormon  on  page  600.  At 
the  time  these  plates  were  found  it  was  supposed  that 
the  aborigines  had  left  no  records  in  hieroglyphics, 
much  less  was  it  supposed  anything  would  be  found 
approximating  Egyptian  or  Hebrew  characters;  but 
as  already  shown,  traces  of  both  Egyptian  and 
Hebrew  knowledge  have  since  been  evidenced,  so 
also  hieroglyphics;  even  phonetic  characters  have 
been  found  in  recent  investigation.  But  in  1833 
Atwater  said:  "No  article  has  been  found,  within 
my  knowledge,  which  contained  on  it  either  letters  or 
heiroglyphics." — Western  Antiquities,  p.  138.  The 
Book  of  Mormon   claim  was  therefore  scorned  and 


BOOK  OF  MORMON  VERIFIED.  31 

ridiculed,  but  since  then  several  articles  have  been 
found  which  prove  the  claim  to  be  reasonable  and  in 
harmony  with  recent  discoveries. 

Delafield  says,  in  Antiquities  of  America,  published 
in  1839,  page  43:  ''Hieroglyphic  writings  are  neces- 
sarily of  three  kinds,  viz. :  phonetic,  figurative,  and 
symbolical."  Page  46  says:  "We  find  the  three 
species  of  hieroglyphics  common  to  Mexico  and 
Egypt." 

Taylor  says:  "There  is  even  evidence  that  the 
Maya  nation  of  Yucatan,  the  ruins  of  whose  temples 
and  palaces  are  so  well  known  from  the  travels  of 
Catherwood  and  Stephens,  not  only  had  a  system  of 
phonetic  writing,  but  used  it  for  writing  ordinary 
words  and  sentences." — Bancroft's  Native  Races, 
vol.  2,  p.  781. 

Foster  says  on  page  322:  '*The  hieroglyphics  dis- 
played upon  the  walls  of  Copan,  in  horizontal  or 
perpendicular  rows,  would  indicate  a  written  language 
in  which  the  pictorial  significance  had  largely  disap- 
peared, and  a  kind  of  word-writing  had  become  pre- 
dominant. Intermingled  with  the  pictorial  devices 
are  apparently  purely  arbitrary  characters  which  may 
be  alphabetic." — Prehistoric  Races. 

Bancroft  says:  "The  Palenque  inscriptions  show 
the  abbreviated  hieratic  writing." — Native  Races, 
vol.  2,  p.  782. 

In  the  St.  Louis  GJironide^  February,  1889,  and 
copied  by.Etzenhouser  in  Palmyra  to  Independence, 
page  91,  we  read:  "Rev.  S.  D.  Peet,  the  well  known 
antiquarian,  is  reported  as  having  found  in  Illinois, 
two  crossplates  which  have  all  the  appearance  of 
being  rude  musical  instruments.  These  plates  are 
about  fifteen  inches  square  and  there  are  places  for 
strings  and  a  bridge.  Along  the  lower  edge  is  a  row 
of  hieroglyphics  similar  to  those  on  the  famous  Pal- 
myra plates,  said  to  have  been  discovered  by  Joseph 
Smith  and  from  which  he  interpreted  the  Book  of 


32  BOOK  OF  MORMON  VERIFIED. 

Mormon."  This  discovery  has  since  been  corrobo- 
rated by  others.  Another  one  made  in  Ohio  is 
described  by  A.  A.  Bancroft  as  finding  ''o,  stone 
dressed  to  an  oblong  shape,  about  eighteen  inches  long 
and  twelve  wide,  which  proved  to  be  a  casket,  neatly 
fitted  and  completely  water-tight,  containing  a  slab 
of  stone  of  hard  and  fine  quality,  an  inch  and  a  half 
thick,  eight  inches  long,  four  inches  and  a  half  wide 
at  one  end,  and  tapering  to  three  inches  at  the  other. 
Upon  the  face  of  the  slab  was  the  figure  of  a  man, 
apparently  a  priest,  with  a  long  flowing  beard,  and  a 
robe  reaching  to  his  feet.  Over  his  head  was  a 
curved  line  of  characters,  and  upon  the  edges  and 
back  of  the  stone  were  closely  and  neatly  carved 
letters.  The  slab,  which  I  saw  myself,  was  shown  to 
the  Episcopalian  clergyman  of  Newark,  and  he  pro- 
nounced the  writing  to  be  the  ten  commandments  in 
ancient  Hebrew."— Native  Races,  vol.  5,  pp.  94,  95. 

The  Book  of  Mormon  plates,  years  before 'these 
discoveries,  were  also  found  in  a  stone  box.  Joseph 
Smith  and  eleven  others  testified  to  having  handled 
and  seen  the  plates,  and  also  the  engravings  in  hiero- 
glyphic characters  upon  them.  The  witnesses  have 
never  been  impeached,  some  of  them  reaffirmed  their 
testimony  at  death. 

On  the  top  of  the  Copan  altar  are  hieroglyphics 
within  which  may  be  seen,  apparently,  phonetic  char- 
acters; they  are  shown  by  Bancroft,  Stephens,  Bald- 
win, and  others.  We  present  in  this  work  three 
tablets  and  three  other  specimens  of  hieroglyphics 
(Figures  1  to  6),  as  taken  from  archaeological  works- 

Figure  1  is  the  Grave  Creek  Tablet,  found  in  1838 
near  Wheeling,  West  Virginia,  of  which  Mr.  School- 
craft says:  ''There  was  a  large  oak  tree,  at  the  top 
of  the  central  part  of  the  mound,  from  which  the 
tablet  was  taken,  the  cortical  layers  of  which  was 
stated  at  from  three  hundred  to  five  hundred;  which 
would  show  that  the  mound  had  not  been  disturbed 


BOOK   OF   MORMON   VERIFIED, 

r 


34  BOOK  OF  MORMON  VERIFIED. 

for  at  least  that  number  of  years,  or  since  1338." 
The  tablet  is  shown  in  Figure  1,  plate  38  of  his  work 
'Indian  Tribes    of    the  United  States,"   volume  1, 
description    page    122,    published    in    1851    by    the 
authority  of  Congress. 

Mac L^n  says:     *'    .    .    .    I  have  no  hesitation  in 
declaring  that  if  the  authenticity  of  the  Grave  Creek 
Tablet  has  not  been  established,  then  no  reliance  can 
be  placed  upon    human    testimony."— The  Mound- 
builders,  p.  95.     Some  of  the  characters  on  this  tablet 
resemble  Book  of  Mormon  characters  transcribed  by 
Joseph  Smith,  as  a  comparison  will  show,  and  yet 
there  may  have  been  changes  in  the  hieroglyphics 
between  the  time  and  the  people  of  each.     The  char- 
acters as  transcribed  by  Joseph  Smith  are  found  in 
Presidency  and  Priesthood,  opposite  page  204,  or  in 
Report  of  Committee  on  American  Archaeology,  after 
page  100.    Figures  2  and  3  are  characters  found  on 
tablets  dug  from  a  mound   near  Davenport.   .  The 
small  tablet  is  about  seven  and  the  large  one  about 
twelve  inches  in  length;  they  were  found  in  1877,  five 
and  one  half  feet  below  the  surface  of  the  mound,  and 
four  feet  below  some  Indian  rehcs,  a  fact  which  shows 
that  the  Indians  had  used  the  mound  for  burial  pur- 
poses, probably  long  after  the  tablets  had  been  placed 
there.     A  more  complete  description  may  be  found  in 
Peet's  ''Prehistoric  America,"  pp.  44,  45  (volume  1, 
pubHshed  in  1892),  together  with  a  reproduction  of 
them.     Eight  of  the  characters  in  figure  2,  and  six  in 
figure  3  closely  resemble  those  of  the  Book  of  Mor- 
mon, as  closely  as  like  characters  could  be  expected 
to  do  when  written  by  different  people  on  different 
material  and  at  a  different  time,  perhaps,  and  both 
being  copied  from  their  originals,  which  would  cause 
the    same    characters    to    appear  slightly    different 
Figures  4,   5,   and  6  are  from  ''Antiquites  Ameri- 
caines,"  pubHshed  by  Charles  Christian  Rafn,  Copen- 
hague,  1845,  and  are  shown  in  plate  13  of  that  work. 


BOOK  OF  MORMON  VERIFIED.  35 

Figures  4  and  5  are  from  the  Portsmouth  rocks,  and 
figure  6  from  the  Tiverton  rocks.  Page  356  says: 
*'Many  rocks,  inscribed  with  unknown  characters, 
apparently  of  very  ancient  origin,  have  been  dis- 
covered, scattered  through  different  parts  of  the 
country;  rocks,  the  constituent  parts  of  which  are 
such  as  to  render  it  almost  impossible  to  engrave  on 
them  such  writings,  without  the  aid  of  iron  or  other 
hard  metallic  instruments.  The  Indians  were  ignorant 
of  the  existence  of  these  rocks." 

Several  other  works  might  be  referred  to  which 
show  that  the  art  of  writing  with  phonetic  characters 
was  had  anciently  in  America,  he  Plongeon  says 
on  page  113:  "The  ancient  Maya  hieratic  alpha- 
bet, discovered  by  me,  is  as  near  alike  to  the  ancient 
hieratic  alphabet  of  the  Egyptians  as  two  alphabets 
can  possibly  be,  forcing  upon  us  the  conclusion  .that 
the  Mayas  and  the  Egyptians  either  learned  the  art 
of  writing  from  the  same  masters,  or  that  the  Egyp- 
tians learned  it  from  the  Mayas." — Sacred  Mysteries 
Among  the  Mayas  and  Quiches. 

The  Book  of  Mormon  says  there  were  many  rec- 
ords kept  by  their  people  and  Baldwin  says:  ''The 
ruins  show  that  they  had  the  art  of  writing,  and  that, 
at  the  south,  this  art  was  more  developed,  more  like 
a  phonetic  system  of  writing  than  that  found  in  use 
among  the  Aztecs.  The  inscriptions  of  Palenque, 
and  the  characters  used  in  some  of  the  manuscript 
books  that  have  been  preserved  are  not  the  same  as 
the  'Mexican  Picture  Writing.'  It  is  known  that 
books  or  manuscript  writings  were  abundant  among 
them  in  the  ages  previous  to  the  Aztec  period.'* — 
Ancient  America,  p.  187. 

The  Book  of  Mormon,  pages  203,  204,  shows  that 
they  had  civil  courts  with  judges  and  a  supreme  court 
with  a  "chief  judge,"  and  Bancroft  says:  "In 
Mexico,  and  in  each  of  the  principal  cities  of  the 
empire,  there  was  a  supreme  judge.  ...  He  heard 


36  BOOK  OF  MORMON  VERIFIED. 

appeals  in  criminal  cases  from  the  court  immediately 
below  him,  and  from  his  decisions  no  appeal  was 
allowed,  not  even  to  the  king." — Native  Races,  vol. 
2,  page  434. 

The  state  of  civilization  among  the  Aztecs  was  of  a 
superior  order,  and  yet  it  is  agreed  that  it  was  greatly 
inferior  to  the  Mayas  or  their  ancestors.  Bancroft 
says:  "In  Mexico  every  quarter  had  its  school  for 
the  common  people,  after  the  manner  of  our  public 
schools.  There  were  higher  schools  or  colleges  for 
sons  of  noBles  and  those  destined  for  the  priesthood, 
wherein  were  taught  history,  religion,  philosophy,' 
law,  astronomy,  writing,  and  interpreting  hiero- 
glyphics, singing,  dancing,  use  of  arms,  gymnastics, 
and  many  arts  and  sciences." — Essays  and  Miscel- 
lany, page  36. 

The  "Aztec  Calendar  Stone"  shows  their  ancestors 
kept  a  perfect  system  of  time,  and  this  was 
announced  on  the  Book  of  Mormon  plates  had  by 
Joseph  Smith  in  1827,  and  is  confirmed  by  Bancroft. 
Of  the  Nahuas  he  says:  "Their  calendar  divided  time 
into  ages  of  two  cycles,  each  cycle  consisting  of  four 
periods  of  thirteen  years,  the  years  of  each  cycle 
being  distinctly  designated  by  signs  and  names  with 
numbers,  in  orderly  arrangement,  as  shown  on  their 
sculptured  stones.  The  civil  year  was  divided  into 
eighteen  months  of  twenty  days,  with  five  extra  days 
to  complete  the  year;  and  each  month  into  four  sec- 
tions or  weeks.  Extra  days  were  also  added  at  the 
end  of  the  cycle,  so  that  our  calculations  are  closely 
approached.  The  day  was  divided  into  fixed  periods 
corresponding  to  hour^  All  the  above  divisions  had 
their  signs  and  names." — Ibid.,  page  37.  He  con- 
tinues on  page  38:  "All  this,  be  it  remembered,  was 
the  condition  of  things  four  hundred  years  ago. 
Compare  it  with  the  European  civilization  or  semi- 
civihzation  of  that  day  on  the  one  hand,  and  with  the 
savagism  of  the  Iroquois  and  Ojibways  on  the  other, 


BOOK  OP  MORMON  VERIFIED.  37 

and  then  judge  which  of  the  two  it  most  resembled." 

Beside  the  Aztec  Calendar  Stone,  they  had  calen- 
dars of  gold  which  the  avarice  of  the  Spaniards 
destroyed.  Baldwin  mentions  them,  both  of  gold  and 
silver,  which  fell  into  Spanish  hands,  and  remarks : 
**But  these  Spaniards  did  not  go  to  Mexico  to  study 
Aztec  astronomy,  nor  to  collect  curiosities.  In  their 
hands  every  article  of  gold  was  speedily  transformed 
into  coin." — Ancient  America,  p.  215. 

So  also  it  was  with  the  ancient  manuscripts;  all 
that  could  be  found  by  the  Spanish  priests  were  des- 
troyed, in  order  that  they  might  have  no  memory  of 
the  religion  of  their  ancestors;  therefore  but  little 
can  be  known  from  their  written  history,  outside  of 
the  Book  of  Mormon,  until  some  one  deciphers  the 
hieroglyphics  left  among  their  remains. 

We  previously  quoted  from  writers  concerning 
their  skill  in  erecting  beautiful  and  massive  buildings. 
The  temple  at  Copan  is  eight  hundred  nine  feet  long; 
the  width  is  six  hundred  twenty-four  feet,  and  the 
wall  on  one  side  * 'rises  perpendicularly  to  a  height,  in 
its  present  ruined  state,  of  from  sixty  to  ninety  feet." 
"The  whole  is  built  of  cut  stone  in  blocks  a  foot  and 
a  half  wide  by  three  to  six  feet  long,  and,  without 
taking  into  account  the  excess  of  superimposed  pyra- 
mids over  sunken  courts,  must  have  required  in 
round  numbers  over  twenty- six  million  cubic  feet  of 
stone  in  its  construction."  (See  Bancroft's  Native 
Races,  vol.  4,  pp.  86,  87.)  This  temple  is  inclosed  by 
a  wall  about  nine  hundred  by  one  thousand  six  hun- 
dred feet,  which  is  about  twenty-five  feet  thick;  in 
all,  a  work  which  challenges  us  in  its  greatness. 
The  great  temple  of  Mexico  was  eighty -six  feet  high 
and  "about  three  hundred  and  seventy-five  feet  long 
and  three  hundred  feet  broad  at  the  base." — Ibid., 
vol.  2,  p.  579. 

The  Book  of  Mormon  as  before  quoted  shows  that 
they   built  many  large  cities,  some  of  which  were 


38  BOOK  OF  MORMON  VERIFIED. 

destroyed;  this  statement  is  sustained  by  Bancroft, 
who  says:  ^'Mexico  Tenochtitlan  has  been  esti- 
mated to  contain  sixty  thousand  houses,  and  Tezcuco 
was  said  to  contain  one  hundred  and  forty  thousand 
houses."— Ibid.,  vol.  2,  pp.  560  and  569.  As  previ- 
ously shown,  only  indestructible  material  remains  to 
evidence  the  extent  of  these  ancient  cities,  which 
must  naturally  have  been  built  of  wood,  excepting 
the  more  important  public  buildings,  the  ruins  of 
which  plainly  attest  the  superior  skill  of  their  build- 
ers. But  many  extensive  ruins  probably  remain  to 
be  explored  in  this  locality,  and  Baldwin  says  a  great 
forest  * 'covers  the  southern  half  of  Yucatan,  and 
extends  far  into  Guatemala,  which  is  half  covered  by 
it.  .  .  .  Its  vast  depths  have  never  been  much 
explored.  ...  It  is  beheved  that  ruins  exist  in 
nearly  every  part  of  this  vast  wilderness."— Ancient 
America,  pp.  94,  95.  The  Copan  and  Palenque  ruins 
are  near  the  southern  edge  of  this  forest.  Of  Palen- 
que, one  explorer  says:  ''A  city  which,  I  hazard 
little  in  saying,  must  have  been  one  of  the  largest 
ever  seen."— Ibid.,  p.  96.  Del  Rio  gives  its  ruins  an 
extent  of  about  eight  leagues  (Description,  p.  4), 
while  the  London  Geographical  Society  gives  it  an 
extent  of  twenty  miles.  (Vol.  3,  p.  60.)  Recent 
explorations  have  been  less  successful  in  determining 
its  extent,  owing  to  the  heavy  and  dense  tropical  forest 
growth  which  now  covers  a  portion  of  its  ruins. 

Some  of  these  ancient  cities  show  such  superior 
civilizations  to  that  of  the  aborigines  found  here,  that 
some  may  regard  it  improbable  that  they  are  descend- 
ants of  them,  but  Mr.  Haines,  who  made  an  extensive 
comparison  of  their  conditions,  says:  ^'Whilst  this 
higher  state  of  civilization  spoken  of  might  have 
existed  on  the  Western  Hemisphere  at  some  period  in 
the  earth's  existence  may  not  be  denied,  yet  there  is 
no  proof,  or  even  fair  presumption  that  such  a  people, 
if  they  ever  existed,  were  not  the  ancestors  of  the 


BOOK   OF  MORMON  VERIFIED.  3fl 

aborigines  found  here  at  the  time  of  the  discovery. 
The  native  Indian  possessed  as  high  an  order  of 
intellect  as  the  white  invaders  of  his  country.  .  .  . 
The  beginning  of  civilization  is  but  the  beginning  of 
vice  and  corruption,  and  the  history  of  the  world  goes 
to  prove  that  it  is  but  a  question  of  time  when  vice 
and  corruption  will  prevail,  and  when  human  society 
will  relapse  into  its  original  condition  from  the  over- 
growth of  what  we  call  civilization." — ^The  American 
Indian,  published  in  1888,  p.  74. 

Concerning  a  relapse  of  this  kind,  from  the  sixth  to 
the  sixteenth  centuries,  known  as  the  Dark  Ages, 
Bancroft  says:  '*I  have  no  disposition  unduly  to 
magnify  the  New  World  civilization,  nor  to  under- 
rate Old  World  culture,  but  during  these  ten  centuries 
of  almost  universal  mediaeval  gloom,  the  difference 
between  the  two  civilizations  was  less  than  most 
people  imagine.  On  both  sides  of  the  Dark  Sea 
humanity  lay  floundering  in  besotted  ignorance." — 
Native  Races,  vol.  2,  p.  97. 

The  Book  of  Mormon,  on  page  133,  shows  the 
above  to  have  been  true  concerning  their  degen- 
erating to  almost  barbarous  conditions  in  some 
instances;  also  on  page  436  that  they  finally 
divided  into  tribes,  although  of  common  origin; 
which  is  shown  to  be  reasonable  according  to 
Haines,  who  says  of  the  aborigines  of  North 
America:  '*The  evidences  we  have,  as  to  a  com- 
mon origin,  are  apparent  to  every  one  who  has 
given  attention  to  this  subject,  and  are  quite  con- 
clusive on  this  point,  even  as  to  those  tribes  and 
nations  whose  languages  are  radically  different. 
.  .  .  They  all  have  the  same,  or  essentially  the 
same,  religion." — The  American  Indian,  p.  73. 

Domenech  says  of  this  common  faith:  *'A11  the 
savages  of  the  New  World,  without  exception, 
believe  in  the  existence  of  a  supreme  being  whom 
they  call  the    Good  or   Great    Spirit;    they    adore 


40  BOOK  OF  MORMON  VERIFIED. 

and  pray  to  him,  as  we  adore  and  pray  to  the  Creator 
of  all  things.  They  believe  likewise  in  the  exist- 
ence of  an  evil  spirit,  who  is  their  enemy,  and  the 
antagonist  of  the  Great  Spirit,  but  less  powerful." 
—The  Great  Deserts  of  North  America,  vol.  2,  pp. 
376,  377,  published  in  1860.  This  fact  of  a  religion 
so  universal,  plainly  shows  that  the  period  of  dis- 
integration among  them  could  not  have  been  as 
long  as  that  of  the  Old  World,  and  yet  quite  awhile 
must  have  elapsed  for  them  to  develop  their  many 
tribal  and  other  peculiarities. 

We  might  fill  volumes  with  the  proofs  of  this 
record,  called  the  Book  of  Mormon,  but  have  con- 
tented ourselves  with  quoting  a  few  of  the  principal 
statements  made  in  it  concerning  the  aborigines,  as  to 
their  origin,  journeyings,  extent  of  their  civilization, 
their  cities,  arts,  and  sciences,  animals,  customs  of 
the  people,  religion,  manufactures,  mining,  coins, 
metals,  roads,  and  other  constructions,  their  knowl- 
edge of  astronomy,  writing,  agriculture,  government, 
sacred  records,  the  great  destruction  by  earthquakes, 
etc.,  knowledge  of  Christ;  the  Gadianton  robbers  or 
Cliff-dwellers;  and  their  final  decline  from  civiliza- 
tion to  the  condition  in  which  they  were  discovered 
four  hundred  years  ago;  all  of  which  have  been 
abundantly  proved  by  more  than  one  hundred  and 
twenty  statements  from  the  works  of  about  forty 
eminent  archaeologists  and  authors  of  recent  time,  or 
since  the  publication  of  the  Book  of  Mormon,  with 
the  exception  of  one  or  two  which  could  have  been 
dispensed  with. 

American  archsBology  is  such  a  broad  field  of 
research  that,  in  no  one,  nor  a  half  dozen  modern  or 
older  works  upon  the  subject,  can  a  sufficient  amount 
of  information  be  found  for  a  definite  outline  of  the 
principal  events  and  statements  of  the  Book  of 
Mormon  record,  and  Baldwin  may  well  say  of  the 
"more  important"  as  well  as  all  other  works  on  the 


BOOK  OP  MORMON  VERIFIED.  41 

subject;  **not  one  of  them  attempts  to  give  a  com- 
prehensive view  of  the  whole  subject." — Ancient 
America,  preface. 

The  importance  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  may  there- 
fore be  better  understood  when  it  is  reahzed  that  it 
was  years  ahead  of  all  archaeologists  on  the  subject 
and  that  everything  discovered  by  recent  research 
confirms  it  as  a  true  record,  engraved  by  the  ancients 
upon  plates  of  gold,  and  translated  by  the  gift  and 
command  of  God.  The  Christian  world  behoves  that 
God  revealed  the  past  through  Moses  from  the  crea- 
tion of  the  world;  it  is  therefore  not  inconsistent  with 
their  belief  to  accept  this  revealment  of  a  later  time, 
which  also  gives  knowledge  of  a  prehistoric  people, 
and  is  consistent  with  their  manner  of  recording 
events  on  metaUic  substances;  concerning  this, 
Brown's  Antiquities  of  the  Jews,  vol.  2,  page  90, 
says:  ''It  is  generally  thought  that  engraving  on 
brass  and  lead,  and  on  a  rock  or  tablet  of  stone,  was 
the  form  in  which  the  public  laws  were  written." 

As  a  fitting  conclusion  we  present  some  characters 
for  comparison,  that  the  resemblance  may  be  seen. 

Some  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  characters  are 
slightly  enlarged  but  retain  the  form  of  the  originals, 
so  that  an  accurate  comparison  can  be  made. 

The  first  line  of  No.  1,  are  Egyptian  demotic  and 
phonetic  characters,  taken  from  the  works  of  Rawlin- 
son  in  his  History  of  Ancient  Egypt,  vol.  1,  pp.  116 
and  122,  and  from  Wilkinson's  The  Egyptians,  p. 
214.  The  demotic  was  invented  at  least  700  B.  c, 
and  rapidly  succeeded  the  hieratic,  which  we  are  told 
was  invented  "as  early  as  the  ninth  dynasty."  (See 
''Museum  of  Antiquity,"  p.  861.)  As  the  Nephites 
came  to  America  about  one  hundred  years  or  more 
after  the  time  the  demotic  characters  were  introduced, 
it  would  be  fair  to  presume  that  the  ''reformed  Egyp- 
tian" with  which  the  Book  of  Mormon  plates  were 
engraved,  would  contain  some  characters  of  Egyp- 


42  BOOK  OP  MORMON  VERIFIED. 

tian  hieratic  and  demotic  and  some  Hebrew  charac- 
ters of  the  old  type  as  well.  This,  upon  examination, 
IS  found  to  be  the  case ;  and  the  first  line  of  No.  2, 
which  contains  the  old  form  of  Hebrew,  according  to 
Rawlinson  (see  History  of  Phoenicia,  page  378,  and 
The  Album  of  Language,  by  G.  Naphegyi,  page  54) 
IS  similar  to  Book  of  Mormon  characters  shown 
below  it. 

no- 1 

So-  Z 
i/tlL3'X3)liyU)0"\o  0/<f MreHC 

NO'S 

U  H-'^  e  H^  Book  of  Mormn,:i 

Uo-f 
/\  /  Z.  o^  e-  T  t=  <V>  e  =-  D  X    Urn  WerM, 

No.  3  contains,  on  the  first  line,  Egyptian  hieratic 
characters  as  discovered  by  ChampoUion  and  shown 
'^^  L,e  Plongeon's  Sacred  Mysteries  Among  the  Mavas 
and  Quiches,  preface,  p.  12,  the  next  line  being  Book 


BOOK  OF  MORMON  VERIFIED.  "  43 

of  Mormon  characters.  Some  of  these  characters  it 
will  be  noticed  are  reversed  in  the  Book  of  Mormon 
characters, — as  the  third  in  line  No.  1, — and  this  it 
should  be  explained  does  not  necessarily  imply  that 
they  do  not  stand  for  the  same  characters,  as  the 
authors  quoted  show  that  they  are  sometimes 
reversed;  also  the  tenth  character  of  No.  2,  we  are 
informed,  was  made  both  with  the  loop  and  with  the 
perpendicular  cross  marks,  and  a  few  others  which 
are  slightly  different,  resemble  each  other  enough  to 
show  a  common  origin,  but  also  that,  as  the  Book  of 
Mormon  states,  both  the  Egyptian  and  Hebrew  *'hath 
been  .  .  .  altered  by  us  according  to  our  manner  of 
speech." 

The  first  line  of  No.  4  shows  the  ancient  characters 
of  the  American  aborigines  called  by  Le  Plongeon, 
"the  Maya  Hieratic,"  which  is  shown  on  page  12  of 
the  work  previously  quoted,  and  which  he  says  was 
"discovered  by  me"  while  making  a  tour  of  research 
in  the  regions  of  Central  America,  and  among  the 
remains  of  this  prehistoric  race.  (See  page  113,  also 
11  of  preface.)  This  work  it  must  be  borne  in  mind 
was  not  published  until  1886,  at  which  time  the  dis- 
covery of  these  characters  was  first  made  known  to 
the  world;  and  Atwater  said,  more  than  five  years 
after  Joseph  Smith  received  the  Book  of  Mormon 
plates,  that  no  characters  within  his  knowledge  had 
been  found, -of  either  letters  or  hieroglyphics;  hence 
the  fact  that  Le  Plongeon  discovered  these  charac- 
ters, which  are  so  identical  with  those  had  by  Joseph 
Smith  more  than  fifty-eight  years  before,  proves  to 
unbiased  minds  that  they  are  genuine;  and  with 
other  confirming  evidences  which  have  been  pre- 
sented, enough  has  been  evidenced  to  satisfy  the 
minds  of  any  impartial  jury  on  earth  that  the  Book 
of  Mormon  is  indeed  a  true  record  of  the  people  who 
anciently  inhabited  America;  and  the  dealings  of 
God  with  them  are  therein  contained;  therefore  our 


^*  BOOK  OF  MORMON  VERIFIED. 

hearts  swell  with  gratitude  to  our  gracious  Gk)d  as  we 
hft  our  voices  and  sing:  ^  «»  we 

Book  of  Mormon,  hid  for  ages 

On  Cumorah's  lonely  hill, 
Written  by  those  ancient  sages 
Whom  Jehovah  taught  his  will: 

Glad  we  hail  it, 
Fullness  of  the  gospel  stilll 

r.lt  *^^,?^ov®  ^^e  add  our  humble  testimony  that  the 

ZT^^^  f.T^-  ¥^y  '^'  ^^^"^^^^  %^*  shine  forth  to 
all  men  as  it  has  to  us,  until  they  are  led  to  worship 
-m  spirit  and  in  truth"  Him  who  is  "no  resplcter  S 

In^S  -""Ir  ^""^"^  ""^^^'^^  h^  <^h^*  feareth  him  and 
worketh  righteousness  is  accepted  with  him. ' ' 


